Oakland Athletics: Bud Selig Hard at Work to Resolve San Jose Situation

Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has made moving the Oakland Athletics to San Jose a priority.

According to the Associated Press, Selig says that MLB is working "at a rather quick pace" to figure out a way to put the A's in a new ballpark in San Jose. He says the issue is "very much on the front burner."

The key hold-up in a move to San Jose for the A's is the fact that the San Francisco Giants hold territorial rights to the San Jose area. These are rights they've had since 1993, and they don't want to give them up.

Peter Magowan, former managing general partner of the Giants, said in December that he is under the impression that the A's will not be allowed to move to San Jose. He claims that Selig has supported the Giants' territorial rights to San Jose.

Here's what Magowan told the San Francisco Chronicle:

"

I'd be amazed that, with all the public reassurances we've received from Bud Selig over the years, he would change his mind on this matter. He's a man of his word, a man of integrity, and he has been clear and direct in the past about reaffirming our territorial rights. It's hard to see how he would not be bound by what he's said, as many times as he has been on the record in support of those rights.

"

The tricky part is that Selig has plenty of incentive to take the A's out of Oakland and into San Jose. The A's have been looking for a new stadium for years, and they are not a very big draw at O.co Coliseum. Per ESPN.com, the A's finished dead last in attendance in 2011. 

In essence, the matter at hand is a struggle between the business interests of the A's and Major League Baseball, and the business interests of the Giants. The Giants have their rights to stand on, and the A's and MLB have the greater good of the franchise and the league to stand on.

One way or the other, the situation has reached a point where a definitive decision is needed. Selig appointed a committee to evaluate the situation three years ago, and the Chronicle reported in December that the committee had yet to issue a report.

If nothing else, Selig's latest comments make it clear that the process is being sped up.